This invention relates to an apparatus integrating system, and more particularly to a system of integrated apparatus, including a weighing machine for weighing products such as food items and industrial machine parts and a packaging machine for packaging such products, of which the operations are inter-related such that the operability of each apparatus of the system is improved.
Consider a food shipment line, as an example of such apparatus integrating system including a weighing machine and a packaging machine operating in coordination with each other. Such a system may include a supply conveyer for supplying materials or incomplete products, a weighing machine for weighing such materials or products which have been supplied to it, a packaging machine for packaging them after they are weighed, a weight checker for checking the weight of packaged products and removing defective ones if any abnormality is detected, a boxing apparatus for filling a box with a specified number of packaged products, and an automated storage house for sorting and storing boxed products, which are all operated in a mutually coordinated manner.
In a conventional system of this type, each apparatus or machine which comprises the system has its own control unit, making it necessary for the user to separately control the individual apparatus of the system. If these apparatus are set far apart, or if they are installed on different floors or levels of a building, for example, the user must travel a long distance to control the system.
In view of the above, Japanese Patent Publication Tokkai 62-103524 disclosed a technology of using a common control unit to control a weighing machine and a packaging machine which are intended to be operated in a mutually coordinated manner. Operation of a system becomes much simpler by such technology because two machines can be controlled from one control unit.
If the common control unit according to this technology is located somewhere far from the machines to be controlled thereby, however, the user will find it difficult to perform fine adjustments on them or to change their control conditions by running them while watching their conditions of operation. If the control unit is positioned close to only one of the machines to be controlled, making adjustments on the other machine is still troublesome for the same reason.
The present invention has been accomplished for solving such problems. In other words, a main object of the invention is to improve the operability of an apparatus integrating system including a weighing machine and a packaging machine such that the user can not only set operating conditions of individual apparatus from their individual control units but also the operating conditions of other apparatus of the system.